Westwood Community High School's Christian Cao Receives his Award from Mayor Don Scott

(Fort McMurray, AB - January 29, 2019) Fort McMurray Public School District (FMPSD) congratulates Christian Cao, our Westwood Community High School student, Annalee Nutter, Principal, Walter and Gladys Hill Public School, and Shannon Noble, Assistant Superintendent, Inclusive Education on winning the prestigious Citizen Recognition Program: Mayor and Council’s Toast of Champions awards. The announcements were made recently on January 24 during a ceremony at Shell Place.

Christian, who is in grade 12 and 16 years old, was nominated by a friend for his strong advocacy for youth - both at Westwood and in the community. He is an executive member of the Student Council, member of Westwood’s Administrative Advisory Council, a long-term member of the Student Advisory Team and a member of MACOY - Mayor’s Advisory Council on Youth. A student athlete, Christian received the Fair Play award at the Alberta Winter Games for Team Alberta North in Badminton. In addition, Christian has developed a computer program, which identifies the optimal university choices based on a student's career choice, learning preferences, financial situation and the preferred geographical location of the institution.

“Being a recipient of the Citizen Recognition award is a tremendous motivating factor. Seeing and listening to the amazing stories and feats of the other nominees was an incredibly humbling and inspiring experience. Moving forward, I am highly incentivized to continue to give back and improve my community,” notes Christian.

For Annalee Nutter, (photo below) being nominated by community partners had multiple meanings.

“It was an honour because I feel they appreciate the school programming which we have worked hard to implement based on the diverse population of students within our school.”

“We have worked in partnership with the Multicultural Association, Confucius Institute of Edmonton and Fort McMurray Cricket to develop a variety of six to seven different language programs, as well as the city's first PEAK Cricket Academy. I love the diversity of our school and our city and want all students to be proud of their roots. I always welcome students who want to showcase their cultural background to do so via school assemblies. They love sharing as much as the rest of us love learning about it. We should be proud of who we are in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo,” said Nutter, who has been with FMPSD for 17 years.

Shannon Noble (photo below - front in white jacket) shared the award with our partners at the Catholic School District and the Canadian Red Cross. The trio won for the Wood Buffalo You Can Ride 2 Program. Launched last June, the initiative provides adapted bikes so all children can have the opportunity to ride a bike.

“Thank you to the RMWB for this honour. It was a delight to launch this much-needed program for our special needs children within the region who now have the opportunity to ride an adapted bike. We share this with our dedicated FMPSD physical and occupational therapists - Sandra Esler, Jennifer McCray, and Maxine Parsons,” commented Noble, who has been with the District for eight years.

Doug Nicholls, Superintendent, FMPSD congratulated the winners.

“What a fantastic line-up of an amazing student, dedicated staff, and diligent senior leader. Congratulations Christian, Annalee and Shannon. You are changemakers - for both FMPSD, and this region. Your work speaks for itself, and has brought about remarkable benefits to our community. Thank you for choosing to give back,” Superintendent Nicholls enthused.